Wattstor has designed a 128kW Energy Storage system for Blackwood Homes & Care, to assist in their ‘Grey Fleet to Green Fleet’ project, supported by the Scottish Government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme.

Blackwood Homes offer a range of accessible, modern, and bespoke housing aimed at providing great value to people with a range of disabilities and housing needs. They run over 1,500 homes throughout Scotland and 80 of them are large care homes.

Emtec Energy was appointed Principal Contractor on the project, with support from Rexel PLC, and Wattstor was subsequently commissioned for providing system components, system design and project technical support at the facility, which will provide self-consumption services as well as grid backup in the event of a power cut.

Overall, Blackwood’s goal is to achieve lower running costs by optimizing the use of a solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at Broom Court, one of their care homes in Stirling. The 111.3 kW solar PV system is installed across 19 roofs at Broom Court, including residential care homes and Blackwood offices.

The installation comprises of 128 kWh of Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Storage, connected to six 10 kVA Inverter/Chargers. The site’s main distribution board has been transferred to a backup circuit which will supply emergency backup power in the event of a grid failure, allowing a portion of the PV generation to continue to operate.

The battery system is configured to use 60% of its capacity for self-consumption, increasing the level of solar used and minimising levels of export and import to and from the grid, with the remaining 40% being reserved to provide backup power in the event of a power cut. Blackwood will not only utilize affordable solar power to lower its costs compared to current utility rates, but the battery system will further reduce energy costs by using stored electricity to minimize peak demand.

The overall system is expected to significantly reduce carbon emissions, become more independent and less reliant on the grid.

For us, at Wattstor it’s becoming clear that the future of solar power lies in this type of battery – coupled systems, which allow energy to be stored and used even when the sun isn’t shining.

‘’Wattstor was approached because of its knowledge and reputation in the sector. We found the project extremely interesting and our engineers were able to design and configure the system with the functionality required’’ said Trevor Howard, Wattstor’s MD.

He added: ‘’Renewable power is an economical, practical solution for a growing number of locations and energy needs, and Blackwood Care Homes are setting an example for others who are still relying on fossil fuels but who could easily transition to systems powered by solar and storage today’’.

The installation has been nominated for ‘’Residential, commercial, and industrial energy storage project of the year, at the upcoming Solar Power Portal Awards.’’ More details here.

About Wattstor:

Wattstor Ltd, founded in January 2013, is one of the UK’s leading home energy storage companies which provides expertise in the design and supply of bespoke energy storage solutions, both off and on grid to domestic and commercial clients in the UK. Since the first Wattstor systems were installed, the company has helped shaping technical guidance and safety standards in the UK.

Having recently partnered with janom, a European private equity company, Wattstor is currently embarking on several R&D projects while ensuring that the development of new products and technologies is ongoing.

About Emtec Energy

Emtec Energy, part of the Emtec Group was established in 2009 and provides a full turnkey solution in the energy and renewable technology sector. With offices throughout Scotland and England, Emtec offers a wide range of products and services, such as Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Battery Storage, Heat Pumps, and Energy Monitoring.

About Rexel PLC

Rexel is a market leader in the professional distribution of products and services for the energy sector. The company provides a broad range of sustainable and innovative products, services, and solutions to both commercial and residential customers across the UK. Their portfolio covers the fields of technical supply, automation and energy management for sectors including construction, renovation, maintenance, and production.

It’s been a while since we spoke about the progress we are making since forming a partnership with janom, and we are delighted to be working hand in hand with genuine renewable enthusiasts.

The last few months have marked another milestone in the life of Wattstor. We are working hard to develop innovative solutions and provide preconfigured systems that are viable, tested, and affordable which are capable of meeting the demands of an evolving market. Having joined forces with janom, Wattstor is currently working on relaunching its website and developing clear core brand values.

Additionally, the ability to knowledge share with the team at janom, and thanks to their capabilities in R&D and technical sales, ensures that the development of new products and technologies is ongoing. Thanks to their other business partners across Europe, the company’s assets and synergies provide an invaluable resource allowing for further development.

For Wattstor it is rewarding to work closely with a knowledgeable partner such as janom and their involvement is proof of the commitment to identifying and supply renewable energy storage systems that are sustainable whilst also being economically viable. Most importantly though is our joint passion for sustainability and the desire to build a ‘greener planet’ that is a real motivation to keep driving forward in this exciting new sector.

We look forward to their assistance in taking Wattstor and the energy management industry forward. This is an exciting time for Wattstor so if you’re interested, stay tuned as further announcements coming soon.

In the meantime, for more information on Wattstor Renewable Energy Storage Systems please contact us on 0845 524 0221.

Wattstor is delighted to announce a commercial partnership with janom, a European private equity company to further develop Wattstor’s energy storage management capability.

Last year, the team at janom were researching the best available home energy storage products in Europe, when they discovered Wattstor – a pioneering energy storage company based in Cornwall. Their research told them that the Wattstor systems were the best value (£/kWh of battery capacity) on the market for the richest functionality delivered (backup power, multi-generator and battery compatibility). But it was the IMP that Daniel Smigura – janom’s MD, was really excited about.

The IMP, which stands for Intelligent Management of Power is likened by Mark Smith (Technical Director at Wattstor) – to the conductor of an orchestra: bringing in loads (electrical and thermal) and turning them down again to smooth out demand and supply profiles. With janom’s financing and extensive experience in renewable energy systems, electromobility and IT, the two parties see the opportunity to further develop the IMP to be the brains of every residential and commercial system that they sell.

Daniel Smigura said: “It’s fantastic to find a company with the same vision of the future energy system, and to share such ideas under one roof. The cooperation goes beyond just financial: we are joining our R&D capabilities to bring new solutions to market more quickly. Those solutions will be consumer focused, scalable, functionally rich and future proof. We will integrate the opportunities we see with Wattstor with our other innovative projects in e-mobility, distribution grid solutions, and nanotechnology.”

Trevor Howard – Wattstor MD said:

“Wattstor have been looking for the right commercial partner over the last 18 months, and we firmly believe that in janom, we have found the ideal partner who shares the same ethos and vision as Wattstor, so we know that there will be exciting times ahead.”

Sophie Orme, Wattstor’s Sales Director said:

“This investment from janom will allow us to further develop our growing UK market share and opens up exciting opportunities across Europe and beyond. janom is already supporting us in significant scale bids to export our ‘assembled in Cornwall’ products. With janom helping us to accelerate our product development, we aim to become the market leading technology company in the energy storage and renewables sector.”

About Wattstor

Wattstor was founded in Cornwall in 2013 to develop, supply and install energy storage and control systems for homeowners and businesses. The need for such solutions is paramount in Cornwall – an area blessed with natural resources and rich in renewables, but with a constrained electric grid, off-gas properties and high levels of fuel poverty. A Wattstor system allows customers to take back control of their energy usage and bills. By banking surplus clean energy generation in the day, for use through the night or when it’s cloudy – customers can save up to 90% on their energy bills. During a power outage, the system also allows a solar PV array or wind turbine to keep generating, and appliances or critical business systems to keep running. Wattstor is located at Penryn Campus, where the company enjoys strong links with Exeter & Falmouth University, where scientists have substantiated Wattstor’s performance claims. Since the first Wattstor systems were installed in 2013, the company has helped shape technical guidance and safety standards in the UK.

About janom

janom is a private equity investment company, based in Slovakia, targeting long-term investments in innovative projects addressing sustainability, renewable energy resources and the IT sector. Janom is active in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Germany, USA and Canada, and has strong links with technological universities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Janom is an official sponsor of Quick–Step Floors Cycling Team.

janom installed a 10 kWh Wattstor Lithium ion storage system with full backup circuit earlier this year, to work in tandem with 11kWp of solar PV already installed on the roof of their facility.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently published the latest edition of the World Energy Outlook, the first report after the Paris Agreement on climate change issued on November 4th. It reports that renewables and natural gas will become the ‘the big winners’ in the race to meet growing energy demand within the next 25 years.

“We see clear winners for the next 25 years – natural gas but especially wind and solar – replacing the champion of the previous 25 years, coal,” said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.

Under the Paris agreement, countries have committed to keeping temperature rises to well below 2C and pursue efforts to limit them to 1.5C. In order to meet the temperature goals, the world will need to achieve net zero emissions by the second half of the 21st century, requiring serious commitments from leading economies. The development of renewable energy will have an important part to play in turning the tide on climate change.

In one of the possible scenarios, almost 60% of the power capacity used globally will be supplied by clean energy in the future (mostly wind and solar), resulting in a cost-competitive sector that would no longer rely on subsidies to grow. In this scenario, growth in demand for oil will gradually decrease and coal expansion is expected to slow down to a half by 2040, even as energy consumption is expected to rise to 30% during that period. In recent years, China has in fact begun to decrease significantly its demand for coal due to new efforts to combat air pollution and diversify the fuel mix.

Among the clean energy sources, rapid growth is expected for solar PV, whose average costs will drop between 40-70% and wind energy, a sector that will experience a decrease in cost of between 10 – 25%. China and India are countries where solar PV records the highest growth.

Many of the commitments made in Paris focus on the renewable energy sector. Among the leading economies, the United States, European Union and Japan seem to be able to achieve their climate commitments, although it will be crucial to developing further improvements in energy efficiency.

“Renewables make very large strides in coming decades but their gains remain largely confined to electricity generation,” said Birol. “The next frontier for the renewable story is to expand their use in the industrial, building and transportation sectors where an enormous potential for growth exists.’’

On a global level, we are entering a period of major volatility. Oil demand for passenger cars is projected to decrease even as the number of vehicles will double in the next quarter century, mainly due to improvements in efficiency, but also because of the increase in the use of biofuels and the demand in selling electric cars.

Following a new publication about the energy performance of homes and businesses in Truro and Falmouth, local MP Sarah Newton, Cornwall Council and local organisations have come together to discuss what has worked to date and what remains to be done when it comes to energy management. Mark Smith, founder at Wattstor, took part as an expert contributor to the Energy Efficiency report, advising on how to build local energy resilience.

“We welcome the findings of this excellent report, which gets under the bonnet of fuel poverty concerns exacerbated by poor housing stock and the fact that more than 40% of homes are not connected to the main gas grid in Falmouth and Truro, with similar conditions across the region.”

Here at Wattstor we’re often inspired by the pioneering homeowners and business that get in touch with us to install a Wattstor energy storage system. We find that a lot of our customers are already on the road to better energy efficiency, and are in the process of electrifying their energy supply (heat pumps, gas, etc. coupled with renewables). They tend to be motivated by a desire to maximise their use of clean on-site renewable energy; reducing their outgoing payments to energy supply, and gaining independence and resilience from the grid, i.e keeping their solar PV running and lights on during a power cut.

Carbon Brief have produced a fascinating map illustrating the UK’s generated electricity sites. With a majority of the UK’s electricity being generated from coal, nuclear and gas, these methods are dwindling to the renewable revolution. Here’s a written breakdown of the concentrations of electricity generation across the UK.

The interactive map shows the sparsity of both renewable and non-renewable energies generated across the UK, with certain areas more favourable to a particular renewable due to location and climate. Solar concentrates the south of England where insolation rates are high and hydroelectricity is largely limited to Scotland and Wales where rainfall and mountains are plentiful, and numerous valleys are capable of hosting dams and reservoirs to act as batteries to hydroelectric generation. Wind farms are skewed across the country, mainly along coastlines and higher grounds to gather reliable wind speeds with a growing number of offshore wind farms in shallower areas.

Nuclear, coal and gas sites are largely along the coast of the UK, along with waste, biomass and oil being evenly distributed, only nuclear acquiring a need for constant access to cooling waters.

The report also shows an electricity generation timeline, displaying how the electricity generation builds change over time. The use of coal is an age-old method and the UK’s newest coal site was built in 1986, an out-dated and high carbon price but no new coal builds will be constructed without carbon capture and legislation. Although coal usage fell by one-quarter last year, we still heavily rely on coal generation but it is positive to see renewable constructions are steadily inclining alongside the declination of non-renewable energies.

All the information for this blog and to explore the map and data sets yourself can be found here.

Carbon Brief also created an equivalent map for the power sources in Germany, an interesting comparison to that of the UK. See this map here.

As you’re probably aware, energy storage systems (like those here at Wattstor™) bank excess renewable energy in a battery rather than being fed back to the grid. In conditions such as reduced sunlight and storm power outages, stored energy is able to be used freely as hot water, lighting and appliances without the need of constant generation.

As the usage of renewable energy rises, so do the advancements in technologies supporting it. Tesla are currently in the build of the largest lithium-ion storage facility, storing 80 megawatts (the equivalent of powering 2,500 houses per day), increasing electricity grid reliability, taking away charges from off-peak hours and delivering energy during peak hours (see the project due to be completed by the end of 2016 here). The latest energy storage reports show hundreds of million dollars savings to be had when investing in renewable energy storage with reduced CO2 emissions and cutting peak demand impacts.

“Adding energy storage to the Commonweath’s portfolio of energy resources will not only lead to lower energy prices for ratepayers but will help create new, high-paying jobs in a growing field.” Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito

Energy storage systems can make a more efficient electricity grid. As a fast and flexible resource, the system responds quickly to variable generation outputs and in the process, reduces wear and tear on traditional generation infrastructures, meaning less fossil fuel consumption and associated greenhouse emissions.

With advantages in battery and air technologies, energy storage allows renewables to store and discharge as needed, meaning there is no purchasing or generating more expensive energy at high demand times

We on our little (relatively speaking) island are doing well in the battle against fossil fuels and encouraging renewable energy resources across the British Isles to combat climate change to bring about a brighter tomorrow. But what can be said for those across the globe, and who do we share this passion with as climate change is a worldly threat and can only be combatted by locking arms with those around us. So here we take a look at the past few weeks accomplishments from countries around the globe to remind us of those fighting alongside us on the battlefield.

Morocco
Morocco is home to the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant. In a collaborative project with Germany, the North African country plan to switch to energy saving light bulbs and use solar panels for heaters, hot water and air conditioning in 600 mosques with the intention to increase this over the 15,000 mosques in the country, cutting power usage by 40% and create hundreds of jobs in the process.

Dublin
Not far from our own shores, a major bank of Ireland, AIB, are converting roof space into solar PV – the largest in the state – and ultimately reduce their carbon footprint by 115 tonnes annually.

America
The 17th city of Boulder, Colorado, in the United States has pledged to become entirely run by renewable energy by the year 2030, with a reduction of 80% of greenhouse gases by 2050. Joining cities across American such as San Diego and San Francisco (California), Georgetown (Texas) and Grand Rapids (Michigan), Boulder joins the committed ranks to a green energy life. In Mayor Jones’ own words, “Congress is not going to address climate change; cities like Boulder need to take the lead”. We second that.

Heading south, Australia’s largest battery storage project is underway to confront electrical network issues in South Australia and conquer the high prices and limited supply of energy in the Heywood Connector between South Australia and Victoria. An area the size of a football field, the 100-megawatt solar power plant and 100-megawatt battery storage unit, Australia in line for a low-carbon future.

Costa Rica For powering an entire country on 100% renewable energy for 76 days straight, Costa Rica takes the winning prize this week. Using solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric dams, for the second year in a row, the country have committed and proven the possible is well and truly possible – and aim to entirely eliminate carbon emissions by 2021, read about the amazing feat here.

The plan to build the £18 billion Hinkley Point C nuclear power station has been delayed after US allegations of nuclear espionage committed by Chinese General Nuclear Power who hold a major 33% stake in the project. Jenifer Baxter, Head of Energy and Environmental at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, has since responded to EDF’s announcement declaring the power station provides ‘no answer to the UK’s power generation management issues, potential generation gap and the need to balance the grid’. With the build at a stand-still, a surge of petitions to prevent the Somerset plant have sprung into action, find out more about the petitions here.

Hinkley made sense in 2013, before the global energy collapse and before the renewable energy leap, according to The Telegraph. With the race between worldwide companies to achiever the renewable energy future, the next energy revolution may be only 5-10 years away. Massive leaps in research on Organic Flow batteries in Lux Research laboratories across the globe promise of a chemistry prototype ten times cheaper than the leading manufacture. The US energy department has combined scientists from world-renown universities, such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford, and launched projects such as the replacement of toxic bromine with a harmless ferrocyanide which is not only safe and clean energy, but also incombustible and therefore simply more appealing if these were to be stored beneath your own home. To find out more about upcoming renewable energy projects, see the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) website here.

In the surge of renewable energy projects and advancements, why is the need for nuclear still a daunting possibility when the upcoming energy revolution is upon us?

The end of the year is fast approaching, and England is pushing its way to the projected 15% target of energy demand from renewables by the year 2020. Currently, at 5% it seems we have a long way to go, particularly with a 0.9% drop in renewable energy from 2015, but promising figures of new installations across the country give us a glimpse of hope in the future to come. The South West currently hosts the majority of Solar PV sites, leading top in league tables in domestic FIT installations to date (a whopping 104,709), 5% of domestic heat consumption met from renewable heat generation and the total number of 128,080 projects, with Cornwall leading local authority by capacity of domestic solar PV installed this year.

Achieving the 2020 targets may seem like a daunting task, but the combination of public and private investment in renewable energy couldn’t be more of a positive outlook for over three-quarters of a million householders, landowners and businesses on the increase of becoming energy generators.

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